Something to Live For
by hopelesslyxendlessly
Summary: There's a new girl at DWMA, and her name is trouble. Naoko joins Shibusen as a weapon with no meister, and her too-good-for-you attitude is getting in the way of her finding a match. Who could possibly wield such a self-serving weapon?
1. Chapter 1

I live in a world of mirrors. It would be beautiful if there was color. The land reflects the sky with its blue-gray openness and rugged, graying cumulous clouds. The ocean is crystal clear, also reflecting the wide sky, and tiny, mindless fish swim about seemingly purposefully in their sky-colored camouflage. There is no danger here, no threat of natural or human kind. I am completely safe from every living creature, and totally protected from the elements. I will never know fear, because I-

"What are you doing, sitting on the ground like that all by yourself?" Naoko sighed and opened her eyes to see Soul staring down at her, eyebrow cocked.

"Meditating," Naoko muttered as she stretched and stood up. "Um… Okay then. Well Maka and I were looking for you. You never answered any of our texts and I got your voicemail when I called, so-"

"That would be because I was 'me-di-ta-ting,' hence the part about not wanting to be disturbed," Naoko interrupted crossing her arms, emphasizing each syllable just to exaggerate her annoyance at the interruption.

"Yeah, whatever, so Maka and I want you to be on our basketball team. We're playing against Black*Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz and Patti."

Naoko just stared at Soul, arms still crossed, and blinked. Soul stared back a minute and then sighed, looking down and shoving his hands into his coat pockets.

"Look, we have an odd number of players and when Tsubaki offered to sit out Kid fell over and started pulling his hair out, complaining that he can't have three people on his team because it's an odd number and you can't split the number three symmetrically and yadda yadda yadda."

Naoko continued to stare, unphased. Soul sighed loudly, exasperated. "I know the kid's a mess and I know you don't like him or his weapons, or Black*Star for that matter… But could you at least help me and Maka out? Please? Our other team mate is Patti and I don't think she even knows how to play."

Naoko looked took a deep breath and dropped her arms, sticking her hands into the pockets of her jeans. She let out the breath she was holding and said "Fine, but we make the game quick; no rematches, no matter how much Black*Star complains; and I want half the dough."

"What dough? Who said anything about money? We're just playing basketball; really, I mean, come on now, huh?" Soul defended.

She crossed her arms again and smirked up at Soul. "Honestly now, I may not have known you for as long as your other friends, Soul, but I do know that you wouldn't pass up a chance to take Black*Star's money in a bet. He's so overly confident I can't imagine he would pass up a chance like this to put his entire life's savings on the line just to prove that he's 'the great and powerful Black*Star,' cue booming voice of paid spokesperson. I also know that Tsubaki has known about him stealing money from their emergency supply for months and she still hasn't confronted him. How dumb do you think I am, Soul? You should know I'm a very perceptive person."

Soul stared at Naoko, wide-eyed and mouth agape. "…Damn it all… Fine, but we split it 60-40 or no deal," he said looking off to the side after regaining composure. "I'll agree to that." Naoko grinned devilishly and followed behind Soul to the basketball court.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Naoko spent the entire game focusing on number one: her objective, and number two: avoiding all eye contact with Death the Kid. Kid was a shinigami, and therefore much more powerful than she. Naoko never could stand the feeling of being weaker than anyone else. It was bad enough that she knew she could never beat him in a fight (even though he is a meister and she a weapon), but it was worse to know that she was losing to him in something as simple as a basketball game. In order for her to become a stronger weapon, she would have to defeat her opponent in a battle where they were equals. Not meister versus weapon, but one team versus another.

"Naoko, concentrate more on winning and less on defeating Kid, please. We have things to do today, if you remember." Soul could tell that Naoko was struggling to focus on the game and push her negative feelings for Kid aside, and he was grateful; not only was she willing to work with others for a common goal (which he was surprised about, to an extent, although she was getting paid), he could tell she was also trying hard to suppress her hatred for Death the Kid's asymmetrical hair.

'_Damn it all, Kid. I will defeat you, and your creepy, asymmetrical hair, too,' _thought Naoko to herself. _'Stay focused, stay determined.' _As much as she hated basketball, Naoko didn't have any friends other than Soul, Maka and Tsubaki. Black*Star was constantly trying to convince her that they were, indeed, friends but she couldn't stand the way he would randomly burst into loud spiels about how amazingly talented and powerful he was. She had already beaten him on her first day, without a meister at that, and that sort of loudness and boldness was just plain aggravating. She simply had no will to listen to his ranting.

"Naoko, even though we're on opposite teams we're still friends, right? I mean, I'm gonna win this for sure, but I hope it won't come between our bond of friendship or anything, okay?" "Black*Star, how many times must I inform you that we are _not friends._" "It's okay if you're intimidated by my awesome basketball skills; I don't mind that you're not nearly half as good as me. Don't worry, Naoko, we can still be friends even after I cream your team. Naoko simply rolled her eyes.

"Naoko! Here, shoot!" Soul passed her the ball and she threw it right over Kid's head, into the basket. _'You were a formidable opponent, but the better man won.' _She smirked, basking in the euphoria of achievement. Now that she had beaten Kid at _something_, she could finally look to him as an equal, and possibly even gain a friend.

The game was very quick, more of a two-on-two with Soul and Naoko versus Kid and Black*Star. While Patti had been galloping around the court, pretending to be riding a horse, and Liz had run off cussing because she had to touch the ball and almost broke a nail, Maka and Tsubaki could sense the tension between Naoko and Kid and left them to battle it out for themselves.

Naoko was bent over, panting, as a hand reached out in front of her face. "Good game, Naoko. You were really focusing hard out there. I can already tell that you're going to be an excellent weapon. My father was right to take you in." Naoko peered up at Kid, still hunched over. She took his hand in her own and squeezed it lightly. "Thank you very much, Kid, that means a lot to me coming from someone with as powerful a soul as yours." She stood up with both hands still grasped, pulled herself closer, and looked him straight in the eyes. "Hmm… I don't know how I could have been so distracted by your hair when your eyes are so very beautiful."

Naoko took her hand back nonchalantly and turned around to walk away while Kid was frozen, wide-eyed and blushing terribly… until he remembered her comment about his hair.

"No! Why was I cursed with such asymmetrical hair? It's not fair, it's disgusting! Disgusting! I'm nothing! Worthless! A piece of garbage! No, lower than garbage! I-" Naoko whipped around and grabbed his shoulders. "Woah man, I'm sorry I mentioned a touchy subject for you, but there is absolutely no reason for you to be considering yourself so insignificant. You are amazingly talented and powerful. I only wish I had you for a meister, so don't let me hear you putting yourself down like that again, you hear me?"

Kid stared at her, fingers tangled mid-rip in his asymmetrical hair. "Okay," Kid replied softly, a new blush creeping up on his cheeks as he looked into Naoko's intense blue-gray eyes. "Good," Naoko let go and gave a rare, small smile. "We should be friends. You remind me a lot of myself." "Okay," Kid couldn't say anything else, let alone move. _'Real smooth, Kid. Real smooth.' _Kid was mentally slapping himself while he stared as Naoko turned around again and walked away with Soul and Maka.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Hey, Soul, you owe me sixty percent of that wad of cash you just hid in your sweatband. That's $120 if I did my math correctly."

"What? I don't think so. I believe we agreed to split it sixty my way, forty yours. You said you agreed to it."

Naoko grinned a devilish grin and replied "I never agreed that the sixty would go your way. After all, you were the one who interrupted _my _meditation just so you could drag me into a game I didn't want to play in the first place. I thought for sure you knew me better by now. You're lucky I'm only taking sixty percent. Now give it up." She held out her hand, the grin still plastered on her face.

Soul's expression was nearly that of Shinigami-sama's goofy mask—eyes wide and a perfectly circular widened mouth. Naoko would have laughed had she not been the type of person to hide nearly all of her emotions. After all, she was still getting used to the concept of having friends; she certainly wasn't ready to take down her barrier of stoniness in front of them.

Soul huffed and narrowed his eyes at her, scowling. "Hmpf. Here." He roughly shoved the wad of bills into her patiently waiting hand. "Thank you very much. Now let's get something to eat. I'm exhausted."

"Soul, did you make that money off of a bet with Black*Star? How could you? He's your friend!" Maka began to beat Soul in the head repeatedly with a book she pulled seemingly out of nowhere. "Ugh… Want ramen. Now! Ooh, gotta hurt. Hello, Maka? Earth to Maka, take it down a few notches! I took most of his money anyways so we could get something to eat. Chill." Naoko watched the scene until Maka calmed and the both of them left Soul lying on the ground with a bleeding head.

"Maka, I don't mean to pry, but where exactly did you just pull that book from, your underwear? You don't have a bag… right?" Maka just smirked and walked on ahead of her. "That's for me to know, Naoko." _'I'm a little creeped out right now I think.'_ Naoko slowed down to wait for Soul to catch up. He grabbed onto her shoulder for support.

"Hey, you okay there? Looks like she got you pretty good." Naoko flipped up Soul's bangs to look at the damage underneath. "What the hell do you care? You just stood there and let her do this to me," he grumbled under his breath. Naoko dropped her hand and turned to walk ahead. "Yeah, you're probably right," she said and continued ahead towards Maka.

"Yo! Maka! Wait up, bro!" Maka stopped and turned around, glaring. "Alright Naoko, first of all, I am _not _a guy. Secondly, I am so not your 'bro.'" "Chill, underpants. It's not supposed to be offensive. Where do you want to eat? If we decide now before Soul catches up again we can skip out on the sports bars." "Okay, there's a really good—" "What the hell is that? I've never seen pink hair before. Bizarre…." Naoko's attention was distracted by a (boy? girl?) pink-haired person rocking in fetal position on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. Maka's gaze followed the direction of Naoko's finger.

"Huh? Chrona! Hey, Chrona!" Maka started to run towards him, right out into the street, where a motorcycle was approaching. "No, stop! Maka, get back here!" Naoko acted swiftly and ran for Maka, pulling her back onto the sidewalk. They fell over, panting. Naoko regained her composure and started shaking a very disoriented Maka by her shoulders, screaming "What the hell is the matter with you? You dummy, I thought you were smart enough to know to look before you cross the street!" She let go, looking down, and crossed her arms. "Don't you ever do that to me again," she said softly and started walking across the street herself, making sure to look both ways beforehand. Maka continued to sit, confused and shocked. _'Naoko actually cares about me. Wow, I never thought she would go so far for her friends with the way she acts so selfishly all the time.' _Maka smiled and got up, looking up and down the street before joining the two at the other side.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"What exactly is this kid, Maka?" Naoko whispered. Maka just gave her a sideways glance and shrugged her shoulders. "Nobody's bothered to ask," she replied. _'Okay then… That's a little strange. It would be the first thing on my mind.' _

"Chrona, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" Maka asked, worried. Chrona stopped his rocking and slowly looked up at her, eyes red and wet, lips quivering. "It was so scary, Maka. I was hungry, and the black box, it was talking to me, and I'm still hungry, and now I'm afraid to go anywhere else to eat, because maybe they have a black box, too, and I don't think I know how to deal with another black box that talks!" His voice cracked and new tears began to flood his eyes again as he hid his face in his knees. Maka leaned down to hug him while Naoko just stared down at him with a confused ad slightly annoyed expression.

"Where exactly did you go to eat, kid?" Naoko asked. "I was hungry and Ragnarok used to make me buy him cheeseburgers from Dead Cow Burgers and I tried one once and it was good, so I wanted to buy one for myself and then there was this box that was talking to me and asking me what I wanted, but there wasn't a person, so I ran, and—"

"Dude, I asked you where you went, not for a step-by-step playback. Calm down, it probably was just the drive-thru speaker." Naoko looked around and shoved her hands in her pocket. _'This is so not cool. What a weirdo. Where the heck is Soul when you need him?'_

"Oh… Hm… I guess I didn't really think of that," Chrona leaned back and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"My name is Chrona, by the way." He smiled up at Naoko and extended his hand for her to shake. Naoko just looked at his hand, then up to his face, and turned back around to search again for Soul. "Naoko," she responded disinterestedly. "And you're a pretty strange kid, you know that? Mistaking a drive-thru speaker for a random talking box and all, and what's up with your hair? Huh? I can't imagine it's naturally pink; did you dye it or something?" Naoko continued to scan up the sidewalk. Chrona drew back his hand, a shocked and slightly embarrassed look on his face. "Ah… Well…," he began.

"Oh, look. Soul's finally caught up. Guess you hit him harder than I thought, Maka. Probably took some damage to his navigation ability and got lost on the way despite only having to walk straight down the street." Naoko smirked and watched him walk with his hands in his pockets, a clearly angry scowl upon his face. "Hey, Soul! What happened to you? Try to take a shortcut or something? You just had to keep walking straight, you know."

"Yeah, I figured that out eventually. Thanks for leaving me back there. Not only is my head killing me, but there was some little kid on his bike following me down the street and he wouldn't leave me alone. I had to do some evasive maneuvers while trying to catch up to you two idiots. Wait, why is Chrona here… and on the ground?" Soul looked down at Chrona questioningly.

"So you know this kid, too? I've been enrolled here for weeks now and none of you have ever thought to introduce me? What a shame; I thought I had friends for once." She extended her arm down to a very confused Chrona, who was still sitting on the ground for some reason. "Coming with us, kid? We're grabbing some food." Chrona reached for her hand and stood up. "Uh, yeah, thanks," he replied and followed beside Maka as she led them down the road towards a pizza joint.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

As they walked in, Maka and Soul took window seats across from each other. Naoko naturally settled down beside Soul, and Chrona naturally gravitated towards Maka—his very first friend and loving protector. Soul and Maka instantly engaged in conversation, leaving the other two to stare awkwardly at each other and wish they had better people skills.

"So…" Naoko began. "You never did answer that question I asked you earlier; about your hair color. Why exactly is it pink?" She stared intensely into Chrona's eyes, making him feel terribly uncomfortable and causing him to choke on his words.

"Um, well, I guess… I was born with this color hair?" Chrona slowly edged himself into the crevice between Maka and the booth, backing away from the focused stare Naoko was giving him.

"Maka," Chrona whispered. Maka turned and looked down at Chrona, surprised. "Yes?" "I don't know if I can handle the look Naoko's giving me. She's staring at me and I feel uncomfortable and I don't know how to deal with this." Chrona looked up at Maka with pleading eyes and Maka's motherly side melted at the sight and took over. She smiled warmly down at him and then turned her attention to Naoko.

"Naoko, I hear that you're still looking for a meister. Is that true?" Naoko tore her eyes from Chrona's hair and glanced at Maka. "Maybe. Yeah, I guess I am. I could handle things on my own if Shinigami-sama would only let me, but since I 'absolutely _must _have a meister' I suppose I'm gonna have to find someone really soon. Otherwise, Shinigami-sama says I won't have a choice in the matter of who I end up with." She frowned slightly, laying her head on her arms, and started poking her pizza crust. "It's not like I care, really. I mean, I don't even know any weaponless meisters. Who's to say Shinigami-sama will even be able to find me a partner anyways?" Naoko grumbled.

Soul, who was pretending to be looking out the window, was really listening intently as Naoko explained her situation to Maka. He felt terrible because she was his friend and he felt that he was helpless and not being a very good friend at all. It had taken him a long time to get her to accept him as a friend, but once she did they were as inseparable as he and Maka. He even convinced Naoko to give Maka a chance and they ended up getting along fine. He was her first friend, the only person she trusted, and he felt that it was his obligation to help her out in this situation—but how?


End file.
